Sarah R. Thomas, Simon J. Pervan and Peter J. Nuttall
The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of a greater marketing orientation among arts organisations and its impact on funding through sponsorship.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of a greater marketing orientation among arts organisations and its impact on funding through sponsorship.
Design/methodology/approach
Utilising a qualitative methodology, the study employs case studies for the purpose of formulating tentative and emergent knowledge.
Findings
The case study observations reveal the adoption of a marketing orientation across the sample and most significantly for the purposes of securing and consolidating sponsorship relationships. But contrary to popular academic theory this is managed without significant threat to artistic integrity or adaptation of theatrical productions.
Research limitations/implications
Data were derived from a purposive but limited sample. The advantages of a qualitative method in producing rich data is well established, however a longitudinal study would facilitate the understanding of the temporal shifts in arts sponsorships and counter the limits of the cross‐sectional nature of the study.
Practical implications
The study reveals a managerial capacity for arts organisations to attract sponsorship through customer orientation without the need to compromise its artistic and social goals.
Originality/value
A central concern to the increasing significance of business and private funding for the survival of arts organisations is the impact this has on the producers ability to remain faithful to the artistic integrity of their productions. This longstanding academic debate now has predominance in arts marketing management and the issues addressed in this paper serve to address this shift in emphasis.
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Hsin-Chen Lin and Patrick F. Bruning
The paper aims to compare two general team identification processes of consumers’ in-group-favor and out-group-animosity responses to sports sponsorship.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to compare two general team identification processes of consumers’ in-group-favor and out-group-animosity responses to sports sponsorship.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on two studies and four samples of professional baseball fans in Taiwan (N = 1,294). In Study 1, data from the fans of three teams were analyzed by using multi-group structural equation modeling to account for team effects and to consider parallel in-group-favor and out-group-animosity processes. In Study 2, the fans of one team were sampled and randomly assigned to assess the sponsors of one of three specific competitor teams to account for differences in team competition and rivalry. In both studies, these two processes were compared using patterns of significant relationships and differences in the indirect identification-attitude-outcome relationships.
Findings
Positive outcomes of in-group-favor processes were broader in scope and were more pronounced in absolute magnitude than the negative outcomes of out-group-animosity processes across all outcomes and studies.
Research limitations/implications
The research was conducted in one country and considered the sponsorship of one sport. It is possible that the results could differ for leagues within different countries, more global leagues and different fan bases.
Practical implications
The results suggest that managers should carefully consider whether the negative out-group-animosity outcomes are actually present, broad enough or strong enough to warrant costly or compromising intervention, because they might not always be present or meaningful.
Originality/value
The paper demonstrates the comparatively greater breadth and strength of in-group-favor processes when compared directly to out-group-animosity processes.
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The evolving nature of auditing requires that we, as practitioners,frequently review what we do and why we do it. Only by doing so do weprepare ourselves for the next generation…
Abstract
The evolving nature of auditing requires that we, as practitioners, frequently review what we do and why we do it. Only by doing so do we prepare ourselves for the next generation of problems, and the solutions we must find. Never has a business environment changed as rapidly as now. Revisions and modifications in our profession occur with such speed that we can no longer depend on institutionalized education to provide the necessary background. To keep pace, we must learn to innovate for constructive growth. This ability to innovate requires us to look at situations and problems from a different perspective to reach new and appropriate conclusions. Demonstrates the need for new thinking in the auditing profession, internal barriers we have that limit our ability to do so, and a brief example of how we can learn to increase our innovative output.
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Ziyuan Xu, Yuanyuan Cao and Hirotaka Matsuoka
The impact of various factors on how TV sports audiences perceive sport event sponsors’ billboards around sports facilities has been the subject of extensive research. Despite…
Abstract
Purpose
The impact of various factors on how TV sports audiences perceive sport event sponsors’ billboards around sports facilities has been the subject of extensive research. Despite numerous factors that impact the effectiveness of sponsor signage at sporting events, there has been a lack of research regarding the language used for such signage around sports facilities’ billboards. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effects of billboard advertisement language on TV sports audiences’ recognition, recall and search intention to sponsor signage.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed an online experimental design. Participants (n = 925) were recruited from two linguistically different regions: Chinese and English. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: watching tennis video matches with billboard advertisements presented in either the Roman alphabet exclusively or in a combination of the Roman alphabet and Chinese characters.
Findings
This study revealed that although language cannot significantly impact audiences’ unaided recall of a brand, it does have a discernible effect on brand recognition and search intention among audiences. Additionally, people are more likely to search for brands in their native language. Participants from various regions tend to have different recognition rates and search intentions for sport sponsors.
Originality/value
This is the first manuscript examining the use of different languages in relation to audiences’ recognition and recall of sports sponsorship. It provides empirical evidence of the importance of carefully considering the language used in sponsor signage around stadium billboards to optimize the efficacy of sponsorships at sports events.
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Hsin-Chen Lin and Patrick F. Bruning
Sponsorship has become an important marketing activity. However, research on the topic treats the sponsorship context, characterized according to the type of sponsored property…
Abstract
Purpose
Sponsorship has become an important marketing activity. However, research on the topic treats the sponsorship context, characterized according to the type of sponsored property and the social role of these properties, as a stable characteristic or as a dichotomous characteristic within empirical studies. Therefore, the authors outline a multi-level typology of the different types of sponsorship contexts to account for traditional types of sponsorship as well as emerging themes such as online sponsorship. The authors then propose an agenda for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conduct a general review of the sponsorship literature to synthesize established sponsorship types with newly emerging themes to develop a multi-level typology of sponsorship contexts and a research agenda.
Findings
The authors’ conceptual analysis revealed a typology of sponsorship contexts that captures both general and specific types of sports sponsorship, prosocial cause sponsorship, culture and community sponsorship, and media and programming content sponsorship.
Research limitations/implications
The authors’ typology provides an organizing framework for future research focussing on different sponsorship contexts. However, the emergent categories still require further empirical testing. Therefore, the authors develop a set of questions to guide future research on the topic.
Practical implications
The authors’ typology outlines the different sponsorship contexts that should be considered by organizations that engage in sponsorship-linked marketing.
Originality/value
This paper provides a multi-level categorization of sponsorship contexts that integrates both traditional categories and newly emerging categories to better inform future research on situational differences in sponsorship.
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Kate Daellenbach, Lena Zander and Peter Thirkell
– The purpose of this paper is to better understand the sensemaking strategies of managers involved in making decisions concerning arts sponsorship.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to better understand the sensemaking strategies of managers involved in making decisions concerning arts sponsorship.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative, multiple case method is employed, using multiple informants in ten arts sponsorship decisions. Within and between case analyses were conducted and examined iteratively, along with literature to generate themes to guide future research.
Findings
This study finds art sponsorships may be seen as ambiguous, cueing sensemaking; the sensemaking strategies of senior managers involve response to pro-social cues while middle managers draw on commercial benefit cues; sensebreaking and sensegiving are part of the process; and the actors and their interpretations draw from cues in the organisational frames of reference which act as filters, giving meaning to the situations.
Research limitations/implications
This study presents a novel perspective on these decisions, focusing on the micro-level actions and interpretations of actors. It extends current understanding of sponsorship decision making, contributing to a perspective of managers responding to cues, interacting and making sense of their decisions.
Practical implications
For arts managers, this perspective provides understanding of how managers (potential sponsors) respond to multiple cues, interpret and rationalise arts sponsorships. For corporate managers, insights reveal differences in sensemaking between hierarchical levels, and the role of interaction, and organisational frames of reference.
Originality/value
This study is unique in its approach to understanding these decisions in terms of sensemaking, through the use of multiple informants and multiple case studies.
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Giulio Toscani and Gerard Prendergast
In an arts organisation context, this paper aims to further the understanding of service relationships by developing a framework explaining how sponsored arts organisations could…
Abstract
Purpose
In an arts organisation context, this paper aims to further the understanding of service relationships by developing a framework explaining how sponsored arts organisations could better manage their relationships with sponsors to facilitate mutual benefit and relationship persistence.
Design/methodology/approach
Grounded theory methodology was applied to sponsorship of arts organisations through interviews with the managers of arts organisations worldwide who had been involved in seeking and managing sponsorship relationships.
Findings
Reciprocity was found to be the key factor in successful sponsorship relationships, but emotional reference to reputation was also important. Together they link uncertainty in the complex sponsorship environment with an arts organisation’s artistic ambitions.
Practical implications
This study extends the understanding of service relationships by shedding light on the sponsorship relationship from the sponsored organisation’s point of view and in particular highlighting the role of reciprocity in managing the relationship with their sponsor.
Originality/value
Understanding the moderating roles of reciprocity and reputation in sponsorship relationships helps to explain key facets of such relationships which can partially negate sponsor benefits and threaten a sponsorship’s continuation.
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Francisco Guzmán and Ivar Sisniega-Campbell
This paper recounts how the Mexican National Sports Commission approached the creation and development of an Olympic sponsorship programme (CIMA). The lessons garnered are…
Abstract
This paper recounts how the Mexican National Sports Commission approached the creation and development of an Olympic sponsorship programme (CIMA). The lessons garnered are organised following Cornwell's (1995) model of sponsorship development. This paper provides a linkage between theory and practice and is written from the perspective of the sponsored entity; it thus provides both theoretical support for sponsorships as well as a case study that is contrasted to sponsorship theory.
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Rui Biscaia, Abel Correia, Stephen Ross and António Rosado
This research aims to examine football fans' awareness of their team sponsors and to compare sponsorship awareness between season ticket holders and casual spectators. Data was…
Abstract
This research aims to examine football fans' awareness of their team sponsors and to compare sponsorship awareness between season ticket holders and casual spectators. Data was collected from among fans of a professional football team and results revealed that spectators recall 'top of mind' those sponsors with their logo displayed on the team shirts. Thus, being visible from the stadium stands is important to ensure recall rates. Fans are typically able to properly recognise sponsors and non-sponsors of their team. However, some competitor brands engaged in football sponsorship are incorrectly recognised as sponsors of a team. Finally, the number of brands recalled and recognised correctly by season ticket holders is significantly higher than for casual spectators. The research findings, managerial implications, limitations and future research directions are discussed.
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Lenny Vance, Maria M. Raciti and Meredith Lawley
Global spending on sponsorship continues to rise and many companies now establish portfolios containing a range of sponsorships across sport, arts and cause-related activities…
Abstract
Purpose
Global spending on sponsorship continues to rise and many companies now establish portfolios containing a range of sponsorships across sport, arts and cause-related activities. Yet a lack of practical methodologies for the measurement and comparison of sponsorship performance within a portfolio context remains a challenge. Sponsors often rely solely on proxy measures for brand exposure drawn from advertising. These do not capture the higher-level outcomes of sponsorship awareness and goodwill transfer, often attributed to sponsorship as a ‘halo effect’. This paper aims to present a matrix tool that combines consumer awareness of and goodwill for a sponsorship so the halo effects of sponsorships within a portfolio can be quantified and compared.
Design/methodology/approach
This archival analysis study is based on six years of brand tracking data (comprising some 15,500 consumer surveys) supplied by a large Australian company. A sponsorship portfolio matrix is developed to measure the halo effect.
Findings
This study demonstrates that a sponsorship’s halo effect can be measured and comparisons can be drawn across sponsorship types within a portfolio. The study shows that despite the significantly higher levels of brand awareness achieved by commercially oriented professional sports sponsorship types, community relations oriented sponsorship types achieve a greater halo effect because of their more positive impact on the sponsor’s brand attributes.
Originality/value
The matrix provides a valuable tool by which sponsorships can be compared, evaluated and managed to meet the longer-term brand and marketing objectives of a company.